Magician & Chariot Social Link
by Reecie Girl
Summary: What if the other characters had social links with each other, instead of just Yu? This is the social link of Yosuke Hanamura and Chie Satonaka
1. Rank 1

The sun shone bright and warm down on Inaba one afternoon and Yosuke was lucky enough to be out enjoying it. It was a rare occasion when he had time off from both work and the investigation, and he was going to make the most out of the time he had. He hadn't decided if he wanted to call Yu up to hang out or to just spend the day alone, but for now he was content just walking down to Aiya's and enjoy the weather.

Yosuke walked along the sidewalk of the shopping district's south side, his headphones on and music blaring. He was actually pretty surprised that he hadn't run into any of his friends on such a beautiful day. It did seem like such a waste to spend a day like this alone. Just as he decided to call Yu once he reached Aiya's, something big and furry tackled him from behind.

Whatever was on top of him was heavy and smelly. Something soft was poking him in the back of the head, ruffling his hair. Yosuke was mostly pinned, but he did manage to wiggle his headphones off. Once he did, he heard a familiar voice yelling above him.

"Chie!?" Yosuke said. "Damn it, Chie! What the hell?"

"I'm sorry!" Chie said. "He got away from me. Come on, Muku! Get off!" Yosuke realized that it was Chie's dog on top of him. After a few good tugs at his leash, Chie got Muku off of him. Yosuke stood up, dusted himself off, and made sure nothing on him was broken. Even though Chie held on to his leash tightly, Muku still insisted on sniffing at Yosuke's shoes.

"What is with this dog?" Yosuke asked.

"I'm not sure." Chie replied. "He's always been friendly, but he seems to really like you for some reason. You don't have any food on ya, do you?"

"No, I don't have any food on me." Yosuke said, rolling his eyes. He looked down a Muku and Muku looked back up at Yosuke, happily waging his tail. Yosuke reached down and scratched him on the head. "He is a cute guy, for being so fat and smelly…"

"Hey, that's my dog you're talking about!" Chie complained. "But…yeah, you're kinda right about all of that. You haven't met Muku yet, have you?"

"No, but I've heard you and Yukiko talk about him." Yosuke replied, kneeling down to pet him. Muku licked him across the face and Chie started to laugh, but Yosuke didn't care much. It was just what dogs did. His non-reaction seemed to surprise Chie.

"I never knew you liked dogs, Yosuke." Chie said as he stood back up.

"Yeah, dogs are pretty cool." Yosuke replied. "I've always wanted one, but my parents never let me."

"I bet you could get one now. You could use your Junes paycheck to care for him on your own." Chie suggested.

"Nah, I don't think that's gonna work." Yosuke told her. "With work, school, and the investigation, I wouldn't have time to spend with him. Besides, all of my cash is tied up in caring for a Teddie with an ice cream habit right now…"

"Oh, right." Chie said. "Oh, hey! I've got an idea! How about you come visit Muku every once in a while? I'm sure he'd enjoy it and I wouldn't turn down an extra hand to walk him."

"Really? You'd be OK with me randomly coming over like that?"

"Well, not randomly, you weirdo!" Chie said, glaring at him. "Call me first, but as long as I'm not busy you can come see him. I already kind of share him with Yukiko, anyway. The more the merrier!"

"OK. I think I'll take you up on that." Yosuke replied, smiling. "Hey, I was just on my way to Aiya's and I was thinking of calling everyone up to hang out. Wanna come?"

"Sure! I'll go drop Muku off at home and meet you there." Chie said. "Oh! And I'll call Yukiko on the way. See ya later!" Chie happily ran off towards her house, Muku in tow. Yosuke smiled as he watched her head down the street. Chie really did have a way about her; you couldn't help but feel cheerful after talking to her. Yosuke picked up his phone to call Yu as he continued on towards Aiya's. It promises to be an entertaining day.

Yosuke and Chie feel a faint bond forming between them…


	2. Rank 2

Yu and Yosuke sat at a table on Junes' rooftop, chatting and eating. They were suppose to be studying for finals, but they had long since gone off topic. It was hard to concentrate with the prospect of summer break looming in the near future. Yosuke's head was already filled with thoughts of the beach, watermelons, and getting the girls back into their swimsuits again. He was about to voice those thoughts to Yu when someone called out to them.

"Narukami! Yosuke! Thank goodness I found you!" The boys turned to see Chie running towards them. She looked very upset.

"Chie? What's wrong?" Yu asked, clearly concerned. Yosuke was worried, too. He had only seen Chie this rattled a handful of times before.

"It's Muku!" Chie said. "He got out some how and now he's missing! You've got to help me find him!" Yosuke felt a pain of sadness in his chest. He had grown fond of that dog over the last few days.

"It's OK. We'll help." Yosuke told her.

"Of course we will." Yu agreed. "Let's split up and start looking." The three went their separate ways and started searching. Yosuke immediately headed over to the shopping district to ask around. He stopped at both Marukyu and Tatsumi Textiles to get some help from Rise and Kanji, but both were stuck watching their respective shops so they couldn't join in the search. They agreed to keep an eye out for Muku and Yosuke returned to the streets to spread the word. He even stopped to see Aika at Aiya's, asking her to watch for the dog as she made her deliveries. In such a small town, Yosuke had hoped that someone had seen Muku somewhere. But, as he reached the end of the shopping district, he realized that no one had seen him anywhere.

Dark clouds started to roll into the sky and Yosuke could hear the faint sound of thunder in the distance. He decided that he could do a quick search of the riverbank before the storm hit, so he headed in that direction. Unfortunately, he was wrong and the sky opened up on him when he was only part of the way there. Still, he was closer to the pavilion than any other shelter, so he ran through the rain the rest of the way.

A bright flash of lightning lit up the sky as Yosuke reached the pavilion. He was absolutely soaked, but he did his best to shake some of the water off. There was another flash and a clap of thunder, followed by a strange, small squeak. Yosuke looked around and saw Chie sitting under the table, her head buried in her knees. She hadn't noticed him yet and he remembered that she had a fear of thunderstorms. Yosuke sighed as he sat down on the bench nearest to her. Chie liked to overreact on occasion, but he couldn't deny the fact that she was afraid. He tapped her lightly on the shoulder and she looked up, somewhat startled.

"Yosuke?" she said.

"Come on. Get out from under there." Yosuke told her. Chie did as she was asked, sitting on the bench next to him. "Gimme your scarf."

"What?"

"Your scarf. That yellow thing tied around your neck? Untie it and give it to me. Unless you want me to do it…" That got her moving. There was another flash that spooked her for a moment, but she eventually removed her scarf and handed it to Yosuke. He folded it into a blindfold and started to put it over her eyes.

"Hey! What are you doing!?" Chie protested, pushing his hand away. "You're gonna try something pervy, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not!" Yosuke said, offended. "I'm trying to help you get home, so just shut up and trust me for a few minutes!" Chie mumbled something that sounded like 'fine', so Yosuke continued putting on the blindfold. "There. You can't see anything, right?"

"Yeah…" Chie replied, still sounding suspicious.

"It's for the lightning!" Yosuke told her. Why did she have to be so difficult all of the time? "I'm going to put my headphones on you, too. They get really loud, so you won't even know that it's storming. I've got a few of Risette's songs on here; you don't mind listening to those, right?" Chie shook her head no, so Yosuke setup his player, gave it to Chie to hold on to, and started to place the headphones over her ears. "I'm gonna have to hold your hand to guide you through town. We're going to look very stupid, so I hope you appreciate all of this…" Yosuke helped her stand up and he led her through town as quickly as possible.

"You can be a really nice guy when you want to be!" Chie yelled, not realizing how loud she was being because of the music. Yosuke blushed at the comment and continued on, hoping not to run into any of their friends along the way. By the time they reached Chie's house, the storm had quieted down. Chie removed the blindfold, thanked him for the help, and began to remove the headphones. But she stopped as the next song came on.

"What's this?" Chie said, making a face. "What kind of music do you have on this thing?" Confused, Yosuke took his headphones back and listened. Whatever song it was, he didn't recognize it and it was…strange. Definitely not something he put on his player.

"Teddie!" Yosuke growled. "This had to be him, he's always messing with my stuff. I'm gonna kill that bear!"

"Oh sure. Blame poor Teddie." Chie said, laughing.

"You shut up! Don't 'poor Teddie' me! You know how he is. You have no idea what it's like living with that guy!" Yosuke continued grumbling about what he was going to do to Teddie for embarrassing him as he turned to go home. Chie called out another thank you and went into her house. Yosuke realized that he hadn't told her the bad news about Muku, but he decided not to bother her with it now. He just hoped that Yu had had more luck and, if not, they'd just continue the search tomorrow.

Yosuke and Chie feel their relationship has grown yet deeper…


	3. Rank 3

Chie, Yukiko, and Yosuke sat in their classroom after school, two days after loosing Muku. Chie was starting to loose hope that she would ever find him, in spite of all of the support of her friends. Even Yosuke was giving his all to try and find him, which surprised her a little.

"It's OK, Chie. We'll find him." Yukiko told her, reading Chie's expression.

"Yeah, I know. I just...miss him."

"You never know, maybe that wish we made will actually be granted." Yukiko said happily.

"Wait a minute. Wish granted?" Yosuke asked. Chie sighed.

"Yukiko made me go down to the shrine and make a wish." Chie explained, a bit embarrassed. Yosuke laughed.

"I never thought you'd be into that sort of thing, Chie."

"Hey, I thought it was worth a shot." Yukiko told him. "Besides, I hear a lot of people have actually been having their wishes granted recently."

"OK, whatever," Yosuke said, shrugging. "How about we go see if it worked?" The three stood up and headed out to search for Muku again.

"Hey Yosuke? Where's Narukami?" Chie asked as they left school grounds. She had just noticed that he disappeared right after the final bell.

"Huh. I have no idea." Yosuke replied. He pulled out his phone. "Maybe he's already out looking. I'll shoot him a text and ask him where he's at." Just then, Yukiko's phone began to ring. She picked it up and began talking to whoever was on the other end. A serious and almost sad look came across her face. Chie knew that look and she knew what Yukiko was going to say before she even said it.

"That was the inn." Yukiko told them. "There was some kind of mix-up with reservations and they need my help. I am so sorry, Chie."

"No, it's OK. Really." Chie replied as happily as she could. She really did understand why Yukiko had to go, but it didn't make her any less sad to see her friend leave. Yukiko ran off, leaving Yosuke and Chie to search for Muku by themselves.

"So...um..." Chie said. "How are you doing with...everything?"

"Huh?" Yosuke replied. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you know, with the investigation and the murders and..." Chie's voice trailed off.

"Oh. You mean Saki, don't you?" Yosuke asked sadly. Chie nodded. "Why ask that all of a sudden?"

"Because...well, because you've been so helpful with trying to find Muku that I thought that I should see how you were doing."

"You think I'm doing all of this for you? I'm doing this for Muku!"

"Damn it, Yosuke! You are such a jerk!" Chie yelled at him. Whenever she tried to say something nice about the guy, he always twisted it around. She kind of hated him for it. She knew he was capable of being a nice guy, she just wished he did it more often. Yosuke looked at the scowl on Chie's face and sighed.

"I guess I'm doing OK," he confessed. "I get sad thinking about it sometimes, but hanging out with everyone and working on the investigation helps keep my mind off of it. Happy now?"

"Yes. Yes I am." Chie replied, satisfied. As they walked into the shopping district, Yosuke's phone rang.

"Hello?" Yosuke said, answering it. "Oh! Hey dude! Any news? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. That's great! She's with me, so I'll tell her. We'll see you soon." Chie anxiously watched the phone conversation and it felt like Yosuke was deliberately putting his phone away slowly.

"So!? What did he say?"

"We have to got to the shrine." Yosuke said with a smile. "Yu found him." The two ran the rest of the way to the shrine. Narukami was there, holding onto Muku by the collar, and so was Kanji, who was kneeling down and happily petting the dog.

"Muku!" Chie exclaimed happily, rushing over to her dog. "How did you find him?"

"It's a bit of a long story." Narukami told her. "Marie found him pestering her...associate. She would have stayed to give him back, but she needed to be somewhere."

"Aw, that's too bad." Chie said. "I'll have to say thanks the next time I see her. Thank you, too, Narukami."

"You're welcome." he replied. "I'm just glad that your wish came true."

"Wait, hold on," Yosuke said. "You weren't at school when the girls were talking about that. How did you know about Chie's wish?"

"Oh, um...well...That doesn't really matter!" Narukami said, sounding a bit flustered. "What matters is that Chie got Muku back. Come on, let's go get some food to celebrate." Narukami quickly walked out of the shrine, Kanji following him.

"I need to bring Muku home, but I'll catch up!" Chie called after them. She realized that Yosuke was still standing there with her. "Why aren't you going with the guys? I can get Muku home by myself."

"Are you sure?" Yosuke asked. "I seem to remember you losing him while you had him on a leash once..." Chie glared at him.

"As much as I'd hate to admit that you're right, I think you are." Chie said. "Fine, you can help. But you have to hold on to him."

"What? Why me?"

"It was your idea to be all chivalrous all of a sudden! It comes with the territory." Yosuke grumbled as Chie gave him a satisfied grin. She really did enjoy torturing him sometimes, mostly because he usually deserved it. But he was being nice and helpful, so she decided to go a bit easy on him this time. "Thanks for helping, Yosuke. Really." Yosuke looked at, surprised.

"Hey, no prob!" he replied. "Anything for a friend, right?"

"Right!" Chie said, smiling. As the two walked Muku out of the shrine and towards Chie's home, she considered maybe taking turns holding on to the dog. Maybe.

Yosuke and Chie feel their relationship has grown yet deeper…


	4. Rank 4

Yosuke was looking forward to another nice night at the summer festival, but that was promptly ruined when he received an emergency call from Junes. The food stall they were running had run out of meat, so he was delivering some from the store. He was glad to have his scooter to carry it, but it still put a damper on his night. As he pulled up to the stall, he noticed someone familiar sitting at the counter, their back towards him.

"Why am I not surprised to see you here when the stall runs out of meat?" Yosuke said. Chie turned around quickly and scowled at him.

"Shut up! It wasn't me, I haven't had anything to eat at all yet!"

"Yeah, but I bet you ordered the biggest item on the menu." Yosuke said, removing the box of meat from his scooter. "You know, if you keep eating like this, you're gonna end up all fat and gross..."

"Yosuke, you are such an ass!" Chie yelled at him as he went behind the stall. He wasn't sure why but he really enjoyed tormenting her sometimes. But, deciding that she had been through enough recently, he came back around and sat down next to her with a nicer attitude.

"How's Muku doing?" he asked.

"Good." Chie replied. "He doesn't seem to be phased at all by what happened." She was quiet for a moment, considering something. "Are you hungry? My treat, for helping with Muku."

"Really? You'll pay for me?" Yosuke said, shocked. "Good! With me paying for things all of the time, people are going to start to think that we're–" Yosuke stopped what he was about to say as soon as he realized that he was going to say it. What was he thinking? He could feel his face flush at the idea of it.

"Wha...what!? What are you talking about!?" Chie said, blushing. Neither knew what to say and they fell into awkward silence, which was quickly broken as someone loud came up behind them.

"Hi Chie and Yosuke!" Teddie said loudly and happily, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. This caused both of them to nearly jump out of their skin.

"Don't sneak up on us like that, stupid bear!" Yosuke yelled at him, but he was truly thankful for the interruption.

"I'm sorry..." Teddie replied, pouting. But his expression quickly changed. "Hey, wait a minute...Are you two on a date?"

"What!? No! W-why would you think that!" Chie told him loudly.

"OK, good!" Teddie said cheerfully. "I would have been beary upset since you owe me a date, Chie!" Chie groaned as Teddie suddenly grabbed her hand. "Come on! Let's start our date now!"

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Chie protested as Teddie pulled her from her seat and into the fest. The server had just brought out her food. "My steak..."

"Don't worry, I'll save it." Yosuke laughed, picking up the bowl. "I'm coming too, I'm not letting you run off with out getting my meal!"

"Run off!? I'm being kidnapped by a runaway bear!" Yosuke laughed again. Maybe having to restock the stall wasn't such a bad thing after all. It seemed like tonight was shaping up to be a good night.

Yosuke and Chie feel their relationship has grown yet deeper…


	5. Rank 5

Chie walked out of the school's gymnasium, waving goodbye to Kou and Daisuke. She often helped out with the basketball and soccer teams because Kou and Daisuke were good guys. It wasn't their fault that team attendance, and motivation, was so low, so she didn't mind lending a hand when they needed it. Even Ebihara had become more tolerable ever since their 'incident' a few months ago. She decided to swing by her classroom on her way out, just to make sure she didn't forget something. As she entered the room, she was happy to see that she hadn't left anything behind, but she did notice a familiar pair of bright orange headphones sitting on one of the desks. Chie let out an exasperated sigh.

"That dummy." she said, picking them up. "How the heck did he manage to forget these?" To her memory, she had never seen Yosuke without his headphones around his neck, unless he was swimming or working at Junes. He even wore the darn things in the TV world! Chie pulled out her phone and tried to call him, but she got his voice mail. Assuming he was at work, Chie headed straight there. Once she arrived, she started searching for Yosuke. Chie asked a few of the other workers and she was told that he was working in the electronics department today. She headed there and looked around.

As she rounded a corner, Chie noticed a group of four boys shuffling around near the digital cameras. They all seemed to be around her age and none of them had noticed her yet. Three of them stood in a semi-circle with their backs to the products and the fourth was crouched down behind them, near the memory cards. Chie could tell almost immediately that they were shoplifters.

"Hey!" she called out, clearly startling the boys. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Chie made sure she spoke as loud as she could. The electronics department was usually abandoned, so she needed to be heard at least one department over. She was also hoping her volume would cause the boys to scatter, but they unfortunately stood their ground.

"Why the hell do you care?" the biggest of the boys asked. He was a whole head taller than her, but Chie didn't back down. She wasn't going to let these stupid thugs steal things in her town.

"I care because I can't just let idiots like you do stupid things like shoplift!" Chie replied. She could feel the tension start to build. She didn't want to start a fight in the middle of Junes; being a friend of Yosuke, who knows what kind of trouble she would get him in. But if they threw the first punch, Chie had no problem defending herself.

"Chie!? What the hell is going on?" Yosuke's voice called from down the aisle. Chie felt a small wave of relief come over her. She looked over at him and saw that Teddie was there, too. The boys started to flee when they saw them. "Ted, go tell someone in security!" Teddie nodded and ran off, while Yosuke ran over to Chie, looking concerned.

"They were trying to shoplift those memory cards." Chie told him. "I'm not sure if they got any, so you might want to check your stock."

"Who cares about memory cards?" Yosuke said sternly. "Are you OK?"

"Me?" Chie said, surprised. "Yeah, I'm fine. They didn't even touch me."

"OK, good." Yosuke gave a sigh of relief and Chie gave a little smile at his concern. "Come on, let's go in the back. They'll probably want to take a statement or something..." She followed him into the back room. She was back there nearly a half an hour, talking to the manger on duty and a security officer. Once they were done, Yosuke sat down at the table across from her.

"Why did you confront those guys like that?" he asked. Chie considered her answer for a moment.

"Well, because I wanted to stop them." she replied simply. "I knew they were stealing and I couldn't just let that happen."

"So why didn't you just go get a security guard?"

"Because that might've been too late."

"What if they fought you?"

"I would've fought back! What's with you and all of these questions?" Yosuke didn't answer right away. He just scowled at her.

"I just...I just...Just don't be so stupid next time, OK?" he eventually said, standing up. "If you went and got yourself hurt...well..." Yosuke paused.

"Yeah?" Chie asked, looking up at him expectantly. "Yosuke?"

"Well, we need you in the TV world and for the investigation. So don't go and do dumb things that might get you hurt, OK?" Yosuke spat out his answer quickly and Chie was sure that it wasn't what he originally wanted to say. But she didn't question him as he started to leave the room quickly. She did remember her original reason for coming to Junes as she stood up.

"Yosuke! Wait! I almost forgot..." She walked over to him and pulled his headphones out of her bag. "You left these at school."

"Oh. Thanks." Yosuke replied with a smile. "Hey, I get a break soon. You wanna hang out at the food court for a bit?"

"Sure," Chie replied happily. Chie headed up to the food court as Yosuke went to his locker to put away his headphones. She was surprised to see that Naoto and Kanji were already there. They seemed to already know about the shoplifters; Chie was surprised how fast the news had spread. She sat down with them and Yosuke joined them soon after. Even Teddie came over to spend his break with the group. They all spent the boys' break talking and joking about Chie's sudden spark of courage, and Chie even decided to hang out with Kanji and Naoto after the other two went back to work.

Yosuke and Chie feel their relationship has grown yet deeper…


	6. Rank 6

Yosuke cheerfully wiped down the tables on Junes' rooftop. Being the manager's son had it's perks; he could work on the roof whenever he wanted to, so he could spend time with his friends when they hung out there. Today, they were split into two groups so that they could study for midterms. Yu, Chie, and Yukiko sat together at one end of the table and Kanji, Rise, Naoto, and Naoki Konishi sat at the other. Yosuke wasn't too surprised to see Naoki studying with them. He was an old friend of Kanji's and Naoki knew that he wouldn't be treated any differently by them because of what happened to Saki. Seeing him did hurt a little bit, but Yosuke knew that wasn't Naoki's fault. So he just continued working and tried to keep his mind off of Saki.

"Hey, Hanamura!" someone called. Yosuke looked up to see a young employee walking towards him. She was one of Junes' regular nuisances; she was always complaining, requesting shifts off, and she barely showed up for the shifts she did have. Yosuke wondered how she hadn't been fired yet, but that wasn't up to him. He often wished he had that power, though, seeing as she always came to pester him.

"I need this weekend off, but the manager said no." she said. "Can you work your magic on him for me?" Yosuke felt a rush of anger almost immediately. They went through this same dance, week after week. It always went the same way: the manager says no, she asks Yosuke, Yosuke tries to talk her out of it, but eventually gives in to save himself the hassle. He could just give in at the start, but part of him hoped that the back and forth gave her as big of a headache as it gave him.

"If the manager said no, then the answer is no." Yosuke told her. She glared at him.

"Come on, Hanamura. You always do it, why wont you this time?"

"Becuase I am tired of this. It's the same thing, every week! It needs to stop some time." Maybe it was the uncomfortableness he felt from seeing Naoki, but something made Yosuke feel more argumentative than usual. He wasn't going to let her off easy this time.

"Quite being such a jerk!" she complained. This made Yosuke even more angry, which just strengthened his resolve not to give in to her demands. He calmly returned to cleaning tables, but he could feel the eyes of his friends looking over at him, the girl's tone catching their attention.

"I'm sorry, but my answer is no." Yosuke said sternly. "If you don't like it, then quit." Yosuke heard the girl scoff at him. He was about to mentally pat himself on the back for standing up to her when she said something that shattered any good feelings he was having.

"You are such ass, Hanamura! That's why Saki never liked you! Even though you treated her like a queen, she saw through the act and saw what a jackass you really are!"

"Hey! What the hell? You take that back!" Yosuke heard Chie yell from behind him. While he should have felt happy about Chie defending him, in that moment he felt nothing. He was numb from the girl's low blow. He gave himself a moment to compose himself, staring at down at the table he had been cleaning, before turning to face her.

"You're right." Yosuke said sadly. Admitting that fact still stung. "Saki just pretended to like me, I know that..."

"That might have been true," Naoki spoke up, somewhat solemnly. "But Saki was wrong. All of these guys have been so nice and accepting of me, Yosuke-senpai included. And you have no right to talk about my sister like that!"

"Yeah!" the entire group said in unison. The girl looked dumbfounded and Yosuke gave a small grin.

"Fine, whatever!" she growled. "I'll just call in, then..." She stormed off. Yosuke looked at his group of friends, each of them looking back at him with concern.

"Thanks guys." he said. "I'm going to go tell my manager what just happened. Maybe I'll be able to get off early."

"Are you OK?" Yu asked, voicing what Yosuke could already see in everyone's eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. This wasn't the first time and it probably won't be the last..." Yosuke walked off to find his manager. Once he was done speaking to him, Yosuke was allowed to leave early, so he went to the employee's lockers to get his things. And that's where he found Chie waiting for him.

"Chie?" Yosuke said, surprised. "How did you get in here?"

"Well, I remembered where the backroom was from the whole shoplifting incident." Chie replied. "And I was going to ask permission to come back and talk to you, but everyone seemed to recognize me and they just invited me back. I think we spend too much time at Junes..."

"Yeah, maybe." Yosuke said with a smile. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I just wanted to...check up on you." Chie told him. "I'd only seen you look like you did once before and that was right after Saki died."

"Oh." Something about Chie being worried about him made him feel a lot better. Chie really was good at raising people's spirits, just by being around. "Thank you, but I really am OK. I think I might always be sad about what happened, but I can't let it take over my everyday life. Especially with the investigation going on."

"That's good. At least you have a good attitude about the whole thing." Chie said cheerfully. "It looks like you got the day off, huh? Maybe we can all go hang out somewhere else. I'm sure everyone is sick of studying. I wonder if Narukami's uncle would let us go there. We could spend some time with Nanako!"

"Yeah, I think that sounds like a good plan." The two started to walk out when they came across an older staff member.

"Hello Yosuke," she said happily. "Oh! And Chie too! You two really are so cute together!"

"Hel– Wait, what?" Yosuke said, just realizing what she had said.

"W-we're not together!" Chie said, shocked by her assumption.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I had just assumed, since you're always here and they were letting you use his charge account." the woman explained.

"Wait a minute..." Yosuke said as something accrued to him. He turned to Chie, who was making a face. "So, when you bought Teddie clothes and when they let you back here...all of that was because they thought that we were dating!?"

"Um..." Chie said, looking down at her feet. "Well, I never told them that! But, I had a feeling that's why they let me and I didn't really...correct them, so–" Chie suddenly bolted out of the backroom.

"Chie! Damn it, Chie!" Yosuke called, chasing after her. Chie had run off so fast, he didn't even get a chance to tell her that he didn't really mind her using his charge account if she just asked him first. Even being called her boyfriend didn't seem to bother him as much as it use to, which was a feeling he would just have to sort out for himself.

Yosuke and Chie feel their relationship has grown yet deeper…


	7. Rank 7

The group sat in Classroom 2-2, getting ready for the "Miss" Yaosgami High Pageant. They were spread out across the room, each girl dressing up one of the guys, except for Naoto and Teddie who had disappeared somewhere. Chie grabbed her bag of supplies and walked over to Yosuke. He still looked incredibly grumpy about the whole situation and Chie was enjoying every second of it. Secretly signing the girls up for the pageant was a low blow, so he was deserving of everything she was about to do to him.

He was already dressed in the outfit she had found for him and it took all the willpower she possessed to keep from laughing. Chie took a quick look around the room, curious as to what the other girls were doing. Narukami was wearing a Yasogami uniform with a longer skirt and Yukiko seemed to be braiding a gray wig for him. Rise had plopped a blonde wig onto Kanji's head and was starting to style it. The two boys looked far happier about the state of affairs than they probably should have, which was too much for Chie to handle and she let out a giggle.

"Stop laughing!" Yosuke demanded, pouting.

"Why? It's funny! That's the point." Chie told him, setting her bag down on a desk and digging through it. She pulled out a brush and a small hair tie with a bright red strawberry on it.

"Wait a second!" Yosuke protested. "Why don't I get a wig? All of the other guys get wigs!"

"Your hair is more than long enough already." Chie told him. She walked around behind him and started to brush his hair. "I'm just gonna pull it back and tie it."

"I'm going to look stupid, aren't I?" Yosuke asked.

"That's the idea!" Chie replied cheerfully. Yosuke groaned. She finished with his hair and sat down facing him so she could put on his makeup.

"You are enjoying this way, way too much..."

"So what if I am?" Chie asked. "This is all payback for signing me up for this stupid thing. I still haven't gotten a good explanation from you about why you signed me up, by the way..."

"Oh, well, that's because...um..."Yosuke's voice trailed off as if he didn't know how to say what he wanted to. He blushed and quickly continued on. "Well, maybe you have some fans out there, too. That wouldn't be completely ridiculous, would it?" Chie blinked, a bit confused. She had the feeling that that wasn't the only reason and this was the second time he's acted like this towards her recently. She began to wonder what he was hiding from her.

"I think it's Yosuke-senpai that's your fan, Chie-senpai." Kanji said frankly and out of nowhere, causing Chie to almost fall out of her chair. She hadn't even noticed him walk over close enough to hear their conversation. But what he said seemed to be a thought Chie had that she hadn't let herself realize until now. The idea immediately gave her butterflies, but she wasn't sure why. This was Yosuke, after all. But the more she thought about it, the more excited she felt. Chie looked at Yosuke. His face was as red as her's probably was. She didn't know if he was thinking the same thing, but she could feel the tension rise between them. And that was when her instincts took over.

"W-what are you talking about, Kanji!? Don't be so stupid!" Chie heard herself say, almost automatically. Yosuke's face dropped, looking sad, and Chie immediately felt bad about what she had just said.

"Yeah, that's stupid..." Yosuke said, but his heart wasn't in it. Luckily, Kanji didn't seem to notice.

"OK, whatever." he said, shrugging. "Has anyone seen my shoes?"

"Over here, Kanji!" Rise called out to him and he walked away.

"Yosuke?" Chie said when she was sure Kanji was out of earshot. "What did you mean by that?"

"Nothing, it didn't mean anything." Yosuke replied quickly. "I just thought that there's no reason why you couldn't compete too. That's all, really."

"OK..." Chie still didn't completely believe him, but she knew that now wasn't the time to question it, unless she wanted all of their friends in on the conversation. She wasn't even sure how she felt about what it might mean. She cared for Yosuke, that was true, but how much? She decided to worry about that later, right now she had his makeup to concentrate on. And she suddenly cared less about making him look silly and more about trying to help him win the whole thing.

Yosuke and Chie feel their relationship has grown yet deeper…


	8. Rank 8

Yosuke walked home late one afternoon, the sun just starting to set in the sky. A cool fall breeze blew past him, making him shiver. He was about to put his headphones on, for both warmth and entertainment, when he heard a familiar scream. Stopping in his tracks, Yosuke scanned the street. He noticed some movement in an alley across the way. There were a group of four people standing, watching a fifth person fall to the ground. And that fifth person was wearing a bright green track jacket.

"Chie!" Yosuke said, his feet almost moving on their own as he raced across the street. "Get the hell away from her!" The people standing around her fled as he yelled. This was one of the few times he wished he could summon Jiraiya in the real world, just so they couldn't get away. But since it was just him, he let them flee, assuring Chie's safety was more important. She was already trying to stand up when he reached her. Yosuke immediately knelt down to help her. "Chie, are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Chie said, standing and dusting herself off. "They barely touched me."

"Barely touched you? They gave you a black eye!" Chie curiously reached up and touched her face, wincing as her fingers brushed the bruise.

"I guess they did, but only because they sucker punched me! Those cowards...Are you OK?" Yosuke was confused for a second, but then he realized she wasn't talking to him, she was talking to someone behind him. He turned to see a middle school boy with his back against the building, looking terrified. He nodded silently at Chie. "Good. Now get home and be careful not to walk home so late alone." The boy ran off. Chie was smiling until she saw the stern look on Yosuke's face. "What's with you?"

"You really have to stop doing stuff like this, Chie!" Yosuke told her. "What if I hadn't come along, huh? You could've gotten seriously hurt!"

"Well, I couldn't just let those bullies beat up on that kid!" Chie defended. "I had to protect him, even if that meant I might get hurt. Are you saying that I should have just walked away?"

"No...well...maybe...I don't know, OK?" Yosuke said, unsure how to explain what he meant. He knew what he wanted to tell her, why he didn't want her to get herself hurt, but something stopped him from saying the words. Somewhere inside of him, he was almost afraid. Yosuke sighed. "It's just that, if you are going to go protect people, who is going to protect you?" Chie looked at him, speechless. Yosuke wasn't sure how she took what he said; he wasn't even sure exactly how he meant it to sound. All he knew was that his heart was racing and seeing that bruise form on Chie's face made him angrier than he had felt in a while.

"Yosuke..."

"You know what? Never mind." Yosuke said, trying to change the subject. "No matter what I say, you're gonna be too stubborn to change anyway."

"Hey! What's that suppose to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. You're as stubborn as a bull."

"You are such a jerk!" Chie stomped hard on his foot.

"Yeow!" Yosuke yelled, hopping. "Fine! See if I help you again!"

"I don't need your help!" Chie stormed off and out of the alley, but Yosuke could tell from the look in her eyes that she wasn't really mad at him. So he chased after her and, sure enough, she let him catch up and walk her home. Chie must've been happy for the subject change, too, since she didn't bring it up again. But Yosuke knew, somewhere inside of him, that this was something they both had to figure out and soon. And that meant he had to let go of something he wasn't so sure he was ready to let go of yet.

Yosuke and Chie feel their relationship has grown yet deeper…


	9. Rank 9

"So, you got into a fight?" Yukiko asked, sounding concerned. The group was at Souzai Daigaku after school and this was the first chance they had to ask Chie about her black eye.

"Yeah..." Chie replied, sounding a little embarrassed. "Some guys were picking on a sixth grader. I couldn't just let them do that."

"Still, you should be more careful." Yu said. Yosuke was staying quiet. He was still a little mad at her for what she did. He understood why she did it; he had known Chie long enough to understand how she worked. But he didn't have to like it.

"Maybe you should just report it next time." Naoto suggested. "Let the authorities handle them, instead of handling it yourself."

"Yeah, the exact opposite of what we're doing with the murders..." Kanji said.

"Well, that's different." Naoto explained. "With something as minor as bullying, the police should be more than equipped to handle it."

"Are you OK, Yosuke-senpai?" Rise asked, noticing his expression. "You're being awfully quiet over there..." Chie turned and looked at him, pouting.

"Oh, come on Yosuke," she said. "You're not still mad about all of this, are you?"

"Well, yeah!" Yosuke replied. "I already told you, I wish you would stop putting yourself into harm's way, just like everyone else."

"No, not like everyone else, because you're the only one who's mad at me!"

"Here they go again..." Yu said, but Yosuke ignored him.

"It's not that I'm mad at you, I just want you to stop doing dumb things that might get you hurt!"

"So, you don't think I can take care of myself?"

"No, that's not what I mean!"

"What do you mean, then?"

"What I mean is...is...I like you and care about you and I don't want to see you get hurt, OK?"

"Well, maybe I like you too–" They both stopped yelling and looked at each other, stunned by what was just said. The others had stopped as well, watching to see what was going to happen.

"What did you just say?" Chie asked.

"I...um..." Yosuke was speechless. He didn't know what to do now. It was too late to take it back, but did he really want to? He was sure he heard Chie say the same exact thing. His brain didn't know how to process the information. Yosuke blushed and looked down at his feet. The awkward silence was suddenly broken by Rise and Teddie.

"D'aww!" they both cooed in unison. Yosuke looked at them and then back at Chie. Her face was as red as a tomato. That's when they realized that they had just done one of the worst things they could've possibly done: confessed their feelings for each other in front of their friends.

"Hey! Wait just a minute–" Chie protested.

"Way to go, man!" Kanji cheered. "Though, I am surprised that I beat you to it..."

"I am going to pretend that you didn't just compare out relationship to a race." Naoto warned and Kanji gave her a sheepish grin.

"Sometimes love works in mysterious ways." Yu said with a shrug.

"Dude, come on! You're not helping!" Yosuke told him.

"And stop laughing, Yukiko!" Chie said. "It's not funny!"

"I'm so sorry!" Yukiko said in between her gasps and giggles. "But the looks on your faces are just...so..." She broke into another fit of laughter. Thinking quickly, Yosuke grabbed Chie's hand and pulled her away from the group. He didn't stop running until they were both down the street, behind the gas station's far wall.

"Damn it!" Yosuke said, gasping. "That has to be the dumbest thing I have ever done."

"So that's what you were hiding from me." Chie said. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Well, I have a couple of reasons. First, you always make it sound like dating me would be the worst thing in the world." Yosuke glared at her and Chie looked back at him apologetically. "And second, I didn't tell you because...because...of Saki. I loved her. I still love her, even though she's gone. I know I should move on, but it's hard to let go of something like that. And when I started realizing that I had feelings for you, I just didn't know how to address them..." Yosuke had to stop talking, he could feel himself getting choked up and he didn't want to cry in front of Chie. Taking advantage of the pause, Chie put her hand on Yosuke's arm and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"It's OK, I understand." she said, giving him a warm smile. "We can go as slow as you need to. I know that I can never be Saki, but I can be me. Is that enough?" Chie's kind words were enough to push him over the edge as tear rolled down his cheek, but he was smiling. Yosuke took her hands into his and looked her straight in the eyes.

"You are more than enough, Chie." he said, making her blush. "I just hope I can be for you." Chie let out a small laugh as she threw her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. Yosuke wiped his eyes as the embarrassment started to set in. And, of course, Chie just had to make it worse.

"Come on now, stop crying." she said cheerfully. "That's probably the dumbest thing you could do in front of someone you just confessed your feelings for."

"Which would still only be the second dumbest thing I've done all day." Yosuke said, laughing.

"So...What do we do now?" Chie asked.

"Now..." Yosuke said, considering. He pulled out his phone to check the time. It was still pretty early. "Do you...wanna catch a movie?"

"Sure. A movie sounds nice." Chie said. After peeking around the corner to make sure their friends were still down the street, the two hurried towards their homes to get their scooters. They decided that they could deal with their friends later; tonight they just wanted to spend time together.

Yosuke and Chie feel their relationship has grown yet deeper…

There's no turning back…

Yosuke and Chie's relationship has become intimate.


	10. Max Rank

Chie found herself in Yosuke's room one afternoon and she was eager to explore. She was actually surprised how neat it was. There were a few magazines scattered about, his bike was sitting off to one side, and he had a few posters of women on the wall, but overall it was a quaint little space that screamed Yosuke.

"What are you looking for?" Yosuke asked. He was standing against one wall with his arms crossed as he watched Chie look around.

"Nothing, just looking around." Chie replied. She noticed the closet was opened a little, so she peeked inside. There was a bed that was clearly Teddie's, as well as his dress from the pageant and his inflatable tube from the beach.

"Does Teddie like sleeping in the closet?" Chie asked, surprised by the whole setup.

"It was his idea, actually." Yosuke said. "It was kind of annoying at first, sleeping in the same room, but it's not so bad anymore since he's calmed down a bit." Chie continued wandering around the room, stopping when something on his desk caught her eye. It was a print club photo of Yosuke and Saki.

"This is..." Chie turned and looked at Yosuke. He noticed what she was holding and frowned.

"Oh," he said sadly. "Yeah, um...I'm sorry, I should have put that away. You're not..."

"Upset?" Chie asked. "Jealous? Of course not. I know what she meant to you. You have to keep memories like this of the people you care about, so you never forget them." Yosuke smiled. Chie put the photo down and walked towards him. "This is why I put myself into dangerous situations, you know. To protect people like Saki. So that they stay people, instead of just memories. I hope you can understand that."

"I think I'm starting to." Yosuke replied. "I just want you to be protected, too."

"I am." Chie said with a smile. "I have you and everyone else to back me up. I can also depend on my own skills, too. Actually, I am thinking of becoming a cop someday, so that I know I can do some good for people. I haven't even told Yukiko that. Come to think of it..." Chie stopped and made a face as something occurred to her. "The only person I have told this to is Narukami, for some reason."

"I know what you mean." Yosuke said, laughing. "That guy just has one of those faces that makes you feel like you can just tell him anything." Chie laughed, too, and continued exploring his room before plopping down onto his bed. "Are you thirsty?" Chie nodded and Yosuke left to get them something to drink.

"Oh! Chie!" Chie turned to see Teddie standing in the doorway, smiling like a fool.

"Hello Teddie. I didn't know you were gonna be home today."

"They let me go home early." Teddie said happily. "Oooo, are you and Yosuke on a date!?"

"Wha-? Um..." Chie stammered. She didn't know what to tell Teddie; she had to choose her words carefully or she would never hear the end of it. "I don't know if I would call it a 'date'. We're just hanging out."

"Oh. Do you want to see Yosuke's special book collection?" Teddie said suddenly.

"Special book collection?" Chie said, confused. There was the sound of something being dropped from the door. Chie looked over just in time to see Yosuke grab her arm, pulling her from the bed and out the door.

"Teddie, you better clean that up!" Yosuke called as he pulled Chie out of the house, letting go once they were outside.

"What was that about?" Chie asked, rubbing her arm.

"N-nothing!" Yosuke replied, sounding suspicious. "Teddie was just being the dummy he always is. Anyway, I wanted to take you somewhere. Come on!" He held her hand and led her down the street. Holding hands with him felt strange, but it was a good strange. His hand was warm and softer than she would have imagined. Chie didn't want to let go and was enjoying the moment so much that she didn't even notice when they stopped in front of a print club photo booth.

"Yosuke?" Chie asked. "What are we doing here?"

"Well, when you found Saki's photo, it got me thinking," Yosuke explained. "If I want to make sure to remember what you mean to me, we need to make some memories. I figured this was a good place to start."

"Yosuke..." Chie said, blushing. He smiled at her and she smiled back. They stepped in front of the camera and squeezed in close together. This was the closest they had ever been to each other, which caused Chie's heart to leap up into her throat. Building up some courage, she put her arm around his waist. She had never noticed how skinny he actually was before. Yosuke followed suit and gingerly put his arm over her shoulder.

"OK, ready?" Youske asked. Chie nodded and he pushed a button on the machine. They posed and smiled as the camera flashed. After a few moments, a photo printed out. Chie looked down at their smiling faces.

"Wow." she said. "We kinda look almost cute together, don't we?"

"Huh." Yosuke said, nodding slightly. He was silent for a long moment. "Chie, I lo–..."

"Shh," Chie interrupted, putting a finger to his lips. She gave him her biggest smile. "I know. Come on! Let's take another one!" Chie pulled him close again and hit a few buttons on the machine. Yosuke posed for the second photo but, just before the flash, Chie put her hands up to his face and turned it towards her, kissing him on the lips as the photo took. Chie backed away and giggled at the confused look on Yosuke's face. He suddenly took her by surprise by sweeping her up into his arms and kissing her back. They stayed like that for what seemed like forever, the new photo seemingly forgotten.

Yosuke and Chie have forged a bond that cannot be broken!


End file.
